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Friday, 6 January 2012

hong kong and shanghai-based international firm 10 design has proposed the 'dalian museum', for urban planning topics positionedwithin the heart of the government district in dalian, china. the building's external appearance responds to the established sculptures and parks scattered throughout the city, becoming a focal element in itself. the form opens towards an adjacent park to the west, visually incorporating the current urban planning elements and green spaces of the encompassing context into the museum.

aerial view

the zinc rainscreen facade is surfaced with a photocatalytic nano-coating of titanic dioxide to neutralize any air pollution and remove dirt. at night, UV lights powered by photovoltaic cells maintain the cleansing reaction which takes place whileincorporating the imagery of a blooming flower, an important symbol to dalian. an inner layer of aluminum lined with a polymeracts as an insulation, adding 10-20 percent to the material's R-values with marine and fungal resistance. the simple paint-like layersdramatically increase performance for minimal costs, while general orientation of entrances and internal spaces minimizewestern facing elevations. entries are placed to reduce the effects of northern winds to encourage passive solar techniques.

Wanting to preserve what was found by minimizing the building’s visual impact on the surroundings, but also to exploit the precious sea views, the house by doxiadis+ is nestled into the slope of the hill and most of its volume hidden underneath the earth like a snail. Only two small volumes protrude, framing the views and signalling their presence, giving it the scale of the nearby traditional volumes and a very simple, almost poetic dimension. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Courtesy of doxiadis+

The untouched landscape of the plot is dominated by a small hillock, where due to plot lines the house must be located. The client brief demanded unusual working and storing spaces for an artist and emphasized the need for a central copula at its core. Approaching the building through a slit in the landscape, one enters on the lower level into a vaulted, solemn double height space. A wide, spiralled ramp leads up to the ground floor inside the space’s circular outline, pouring into the living room which is one of the two protruding volumes, and revealing the sea view at its end. The neighboring volume shelters the bedroom of the house.

Courtesy of doxiadis+

The building will be built from the stone excavated to accommodate it and will harness the water of its terrace and surroundings. Being built into the hill it will be perfectly insulated in summer and winter and cross ventilation will be allowed through the small hole at the top of its dome.

The Paju Free School is not a government-authorized institution but an alternative school officially unauthorized and built by parents seeking a true education. As a matter of course, the land and the building for the school were fully supported by parents. Therefore it was not easy to complete the construction following the schedule. Once every condition was met for construction, the school building had to be built as soon as possible. Further, the planned land was changed five times, and the blueprints had to be made anew several times accordingly.

Program arrangementThe first proposal was to split the area for the school in a simple way. First of all, considering the correlation between lighting, classroom, playground and buildings, two plans were proposed: one was about laying out classrooms facing south in a row and the other was about placing classrooms facing south with a central courtyard being seated in between the classroom buildings and with the playground being put on the left side of the building.

Materials- money and maintenanceThe cost for the building should cover intial construction and follow-up maintenance. It was very difficult for an architect to choose materials for the exterior. The decision on the exterior materials to be used for the Paju Free School needed a consideration of overall building image but I thought it would better to choose materials that would not require special maintenance and that would not cause much deformation over time.